Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I sure would like to join the discussion on roads with my colleagues from Hay River South and the Yellowknife MLA here. I’m so hungry for roads I can taste the salt on them.
I want to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment on the really important issue. It goes against the culture of the people in my region, specifically in Colville Lake. We have elders that need help. Their family relatives want to look after them, but once the family relatives live with them, the Minister’s policy says if you are going to live with them you’ll be penalized and we’ll cut off your fuel or any other type of subsidies or income support. Can the Minister tell me if this policy can be changed?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The policies are in place for a reason and they can be amended as well. Based on what the discussions are that we’ve had with income security programming, we’ve made some drastic changes in 2007 to increase our funding. When the Member speaks to the senior fuel subsidy, I believe he’s referring to there are areas that we need to explore. We don’t want to have an impact on a senior’s pension when it comes to subsidies. There are people living in the household. I understand some people are living there helping out, but some people do take advantage of the elderly people in the community. We have to be mindful of that. It is across the board. It’s not only the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. We have policy that impacts other areas within other departments, as well, on the household income. We have to be mindful of that.
The seniors that I’ve talked to are poor, they need help. The home care is not there enough. These are seniors that need help with medication or groceries or wood or hauling of the water. They’re poor. Quit picking on our seniors. They’ve done enough for us. We’re asking the government to look at a policy to be amended to allow family members to help the seniors in those areas. Seniors are afraid of the government policies and the community is saying that this policy is going against the culture of the people. Would the Minister be willing to look at seeing how we can change this?
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This particular policy on the Seniors Home Heating Subsidy Program is intended to assist, as the Member stated, low-income seniors. If there are also other individuals living in the household, as well, that are earning an income, they should be contributing towards the actual cost of fuel or food in the household as well.
We’ve heard in the past, our ancestors, our grandfathers, that we have to share within our household, share within the community, and that’s what should be happening with individuals that are living in that particular household. They need to share their costs, as well, and that’s not happening. We also get calls from seniors, as well, that we need to assess them, and that’s what we’re doing in those areas. Mahsi.
There are also seniors who are getting help from their own relatives and support from family members. Has the Minister gone to Colville Lake and seen what the cost of living is there? It’s outrageous. There are people there that don’t work that are helping the seniors. As soon as the seniors get help, they’re being penalized so much that our seniors are afraid, and some of them are scared of living in these small communities.
Can the Minister, if he has heart, look at this policy with his colleagues to see if they can get help? There are some good seniors that are not getting the help in the Northwest Territories because the policies are not fitting with the communities’ needs. Can the Minister look at that?
We have explored those areas regarding some of the seniors having individuals living with them. It could be providing more home care to them. Another area that we also explored is the seniors and individuals living under their roof, could they be invoiced as opposed to the senior. We have been exploring those areas. We have a representative at the regional level, as well, and we continuously have those discussions at the community level and at the regional level, and we will continue to do that if we need to make those changes. We need to consult with the communities as well. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Speaker, I ask this government to quit picking on our seniors. They’ve done enough. They’ve helped us. I ask this government what does it need from this side of the Regular Members to get the job done fairly and quickly. Will he show us where the target is so I think we can hit the bull’s eye on this issue here?
For the record, we’re not picking on the elders, the seniors in the community. We have subsidized the elders in the communities. The Seniors Fuel Subsidy is particularly for those individuals that are low-income households. So we do provide subsidies. At the same time, we have increased the threshold of $10,000 as well. We are making changes to our policy and we will continue to do that. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
